


‘One foot on the ground…

by adenium (peccolia)



Series: No Training Wheels [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Minor Swearing, Post-Pacifist Route, The power of friendship, a little crackish, but it's all in good fun, gender neutral monster kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-02 18:22:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6577456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peccolia/pseuds/adenium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>… one foot on the pedal and get the heck outta here!’</p>
<p>Monster Kid gets ahold of a bicycle and shows it off to Frisk.<br/>Problem is, neither knows how to ride it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _Inspired by Schitt’s Creek S2EP4_  
>  “One foot on the ground, one foot on the pedal and get the hell outta here!”  
> The idea wouldn't leave me alone so HERE YOU GO ENJOY I'm just trying to get used to writing all these guys

Frisk has seen a lot of weird things.

The Underground was full of them.

And now, Ebott City, flourishing with monsters, is just as weird.

Before their adventure, did they ever even once consider the idea that an accident-prone, armless yellow monster would be doing their damnedest to ride a bike in the community park? Even with their overactive imagination (that they once prided, before finding out monsters existed and reality is much stranger than fiction), the answer is no.

But facts are facts and the fact of the matter is, Monster Kid is struggling (with admirable determination) to do just that, flailing from side to side precariously, as if an earthquake rocked the ground, as they try in vain to get the bicycle to do anything but wobble its wheels before giving out and throwing itself to the grass in a fit, rider and all.

Frisk can’t just leave MK alone like that, face-planted into the dirt with a bike frame tangled up over them. Poor guy falls over enough as it is, without having poor riding skills to blame—walking past that scene just feels too criminal.

They grab the bike and drag it to the side before crouching down beside the yellow monster, tapping a hand on the tan spikes protruding from their back to get their attention.

MK’s eyes shoot open and before they can manage another exaggerated groan of pain and defeat, they’re wriggling to sit up and start grinning, bright and energetic as always. “Yo, Frisk! Dude, check out my new bike! Pretty cool, huh? Huh?”

**Very cool,** the brunet signs, smiling a soft, fond smile just seeing the other kid's twinkling, excited eyes. 

With practiced ease, MK pushes themselves back to their feet and returns to the bike’s side with a skip in their step, stooping over and managing to right it once again. “Totally cool, dude! Guess where I got it?”

Frisk eyes the slightly beat-up red frame, noting the chipped paint and scuffed tires. It isn’t new, that much is certain. They have an idea, but they shrug regardless and let their friend answer, as they clearly intend to do, bouncing on the balls of their feet and grinning wide, all teeth.

“The garbage dump! Man, can you believe people just throw out stuff like this?”

Even in the city, some things never change. The garbage dump is still a veritable treasure trove to the surface’s new inhabitants.

Even so, this is a pretty great find. The tires are worn, a little dirty, sure, but still intact. It’s a nice bike. One that looks a lot like the ones Frisk used to hope after when they saw them in shop windows but could never afford. 

**You know how to ride?** Frisk asks, a grin playing across their lips. They can’t help it. MK’s upbeat cheer is contagious. The grocery bag containing pie ingredients Toriel requested goes forgotten, set aside on sidewalk, as this new, interesting scene takes over.

“Nope. But I’m learning!” With another bright-eyed grin, MK hops onto the bike and struggles to get the pedals moving, to keep their balance, and they have to give the monster credit for trying so hard.

Even if it ends up with the monster pinned between the bicycle and the ground again, struggling to get back up.

**C’mon, it can’t be that hard.** Again, the brunet is left to help up the energetic monster. But this time, they hold onto the handlebars, studying the bike with pursed lips. **Watch and learn!**

“Yo, hey, wait!” MK starts to protest as Frisk jumps up onto the seat and sets both feet firmly on the pedals, with determination, and pushes forward—

Or tries, anyway.

Just like MK, they topple over onto the grass with no progress whatsoever.

“Uh, what exactly am I supposed to learn from that?”

Frisk manages an annoyed stare as they wriggle out from beneath the bike and stand up, ready to try again.

Only to fall again.

And again.

And again.

“I don’t think we’re doing something right, yo.” MK’s expression scrunches up like they’re scratching at their skull in confusion. “It looks so _easy_ when you see people riding bikes out there. Man, what are we missing?”

Frisk doesn’t bother picking the bike up again. The kid is right—they’re missing something. Something vital that all other bike riders have. What that thing is, they don’t know.

“HEY, KIDS!” A booming voice draws their attention as a blue-skinned woman wearing jogger shorts and a tank top slows her running pace and approaches. She looks tired, chest heaving after a long mile—or five, or ten, or fifty—run, but she’s as energetic as ever.

Frisk realizes Undyne might have the answer to their problem.

“What is that? Is that a BIKE? Sweet, I’ve always wanted to try one of these things!”

MK is bouncing up and down on their feet because their idol has arrived and doesn’t waste any time picking the bike up by its frame—yanking it up airborne—before setting it on its wheels on the sidewalk with a heavy clatter because she is just _that strong and cool_. “Right? Right?! It’s awesome! Hey, hey, Undyne, I bet you ride bikes all the time, huh?”

**Can you ride a bike, Undyne?** the brunet asks with a hopeful glint in their eyes.

“What? Sure! How hard can it be? You just—” she throws a leg over the seat and mounts it, setting one foot firmly on the pedal, pushing off against the ground with her other foot, and takes off—

—only to fall right over once the momentum wears down.

“WHAT THE HE—CK?” She catches her swear at the last second, side-eyeing the two children. “DUMB THING’S BROKEN!” She thinks about kicking the bike for a second, but thinks better of it at the sight of the kids’ faces and stomps the ground instead. Alphys mentioned it would be better to keep a good hold on her temper around surface humans, and what kind of girlfriend would she be if she didn’t listen to Alphys’ advice? She scratches at her head before picking the bike up again, never one to give up after failure.

**I think you have to pedal,** Frisk points out. Of course they know the basics of how to ride a bicycle—it’s just that _trying_ is a whole other matter.

“Pedal, huh?” Undyne pulls her hand out of her hair (not noticing her claws got tangled and skewed her smooth ponytail) before giving the bike a long, scrutinizing look. “OF COURSE! That’s how these things work!”

“Man, you can totally do it, Undyne! We believe in you!” MK cheers from the side as the Royal Guardsman makes her second attempt.

…Which ends with her stumbling away from the wobbling thing before it falls on her again.

Her lips tremble in a sneer and her shoulders shake, she raises a hand to summon a spear, all a familiar stance Frisk is all too familiar with, but at the last second the redhead squeezes her eyes shut and sets her arms firmly at her sides, throwing her head back with a frustrated growl. “What is WITH this thing?! Here,” she reaches over and grabs Frisk by the head, pulling them up and setting them on the bike seat. “Your turn, kid!”

Frisk tries to sign out a protest, but finds that they need to hold on to the handlebars suddenly when the blue-skinned woman begins pushing the bike along from behind, leaving the child scrambling to set their feet on the spinning pedals knocking against their legs as they rapidly picked up speed along the concrete.

“Just—put one foot on the ground, one foot on the pedal and GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE!” That said, Undyne gives one final, mighty push before completely letting go of the bike and cheering loud as Frisk shakily tries in vain to steer the two-wheeled steed, managing one, two, THREE unsteady pedal cycles before losing control and swerving onto the grassy knoll lining the walkway.

MK and Undyne are quick to follow as the bike descends the hill and rapidly accelerates, somehow remaining upright.

“Whoa—you’re—YOU’RE DOING IT, FRISK!” The monster child cheers, before realizing a tree line awaits them at the bottom of the hill. “Uhh, dude? Dude, brake! BRAKE!”

“DAMMIT, KID, HIT THE BRAKES!”

But Frisk doesn’t know where the brakes are and looks back at them with a wide-eyed glance and half-open mouth.

“NYAAAAAAGGHH!” Undyne sprints down the hill, careful not to stumble and go rolling, but she is wearing the latest, top-of-the-line running sneakers, so she doesn’t think that will be an issue with their great traction, and throws out her arms to grab the child around the waist and yank them off the bicycle before it collides with the solid, unyielding trunk of a massive oak tree.

Frisk hangs from Undyne’s hold, looking out at the crashed bicycle (admittedly looking no worse for the wear and just as worn out as ever, but still in once piece) as MK waddles along to join them, wheezing slightly and eyeing the crash site with a growing sense of despair.

“Alright. Time to call in the big guns.” Never one to give up in the face of a challenge, especially when the kids are involved, she sets Frisk down and reaches into the phone holder strapped to her arm. She puts one hand on her hip while holding the phone to her ear with the other, grinning wide. “HEY, PAPYRUS, YOU FREE?”


	2. Chapter 2

 

It doesn’t take long for a shiny, well-kept red convertible pulls up to the curb, complete with a sunglass-wearing skeleton in the driver’s seat.

“HELLO CHILDREN, UNDYNE. WHAT CAN THE GREAT PAPYRUS ASSIST YOU WITH TODAY?”

Frisk doesn’t know why they didn’t think about asking Papyrus sooner. He is a trained, licensed driver, after all. If he can handle four wheels, then two should be a cakewalk.

MK managed to push the bike back up to the top of the hill with a little help from Frisk (who had to stop Undyne from tossing it the entire distance) and stands beside it, now, wondering if they’ll finally learn how to ride the darn thing. With so many cool, capable people around, it should be easy.

“sounded pretty important,” the grinning skeleton sitting in the passenger’s seat remarks, leaning back and shaking the ice in a plastic corner store cup. His eyes move lazily from the bike to the group of friends and his grin widens ever-so-slightly.

 **We’re trying to ride a bike.** Frisk doesn’t waste any time, getting a word in before Undyne can launch into a tirade about how damn difficult this recreational activity was turning out to be.

“BICYCLE RIDING? A NOBLE PURSUIT! I WILL LEND MY AID.”

“That’s the spirit, Pap! If YOU can’t do it, we’re screwed!” Undyne nods in approval.

The proud skeleton stands tall as he mounts the bike, grips the handlebars and sets one foot on the pedal, ready to push off from the ground and go rocketing forward across the walkway, teeth set in a victorious grin before even completing the task.

“WAIT,” he suddenly cries, setting both feet back on the ground and looking wildly from side-to-side at the back wheel. “WHERE ARE THE STABILIZING WHEELS?” He gets off of the bike and leans down to observe the very definitely two-wheeled bicycle, eyes wide in disbelief as if he’d never seen such a thing.

“Yo, what are ‘stabilizing wheels?’ That sounds totally intense.”

Frisk is one-hundred-and-one percent certain that they’re actually training wheels, and with a quick glance at Sans, who gives a wink, they are one-hundred-and-fifty percent sure. But it’s probably best not to tell Papyrus that.

“NO WONDER YOU HAVEN’T SUCEEDED. THIS BICYCLE’S INCOMPLETE!” Papyrus finally reaches the conclusion that the lack of training wheels is their problem—and now that Frisk thinks about it, training wheels really would come in handy…if they had any.

“RIGHT ON! I KNEW it was broken!” Undyne yells in triumph. Her toothy grin fades. “So what are those thingamajigs and where do we get some?”

“I…I’M NOT SURE. AREN’T THEY JUST…NORMALLY A PART OF THE BICYCLE?”

The redhead sighs. “Can’t we just ride it withOUT them, then? And kinda improvise?”

For a moment, Papyrus looks unsure. Then, his confidence returns full-force. “DARING! ADVENTUROUS! I LIKE IT!”

The two beam at each other, pumped up at the mere aspect of something so seemingly dangerous. “YEAH! Here, I’ll hold on to the back. I’LL be the training wheels!” She grips the far end of the bike seat and nods her head at the tall skeleton, gung-ho for the new idea. “LET’S DO THIS!”

Not but a few seconds after they take off, they end up crashed in a tangle of limbs.

 **I don’t think the ‘training wheels’ are supposed to push,** Frisk signs. _Especially not that hard. Didn’t we already try that?_  Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea, they think, deciding to sit on the grass and wait for their two friends to disentangle themselves from the mess. Maybe it would be best to just go home and deliver the groceries to Toriel and forget this ever happened.

“But they moved! They totally moved and didn’t fall for a while, so we’re making progress, man!” MK isn’t discouraged in the least, still hopping up and down, watching everything with eager eyes, never losing faith in their idols.

After their crash, Papyrus and Undyne loudly discuss the mechanics of the “training wheel idea” in animated gestures and loud exclamations, miming out the actions they describe. They leave the bike lying on the ground as the conversation absorbs them, more interested in theory than practice.

No one notices when a certain, short skeleton picks up the bike.

No one notices when said skeleton expertly rides the bike down the sidewalk.

At least until Frisk realizes there’s a blank space where the thing used to be and takes a quick look around. It doesn’t take long to spot the bike snatcher—and it takes even less time to hurry after him, because he’s riding along at a leisurely pace, letting the momentum carry the bike along.

Frisk manages a comfortable walking pace beside Sans and looks up at him with a less-than-impressed expression. **Why didn’t you just say you knew how to ride a bike in the first place?**

Sans shrugs good-naturedly. “dunno. pap looked like he was having a _wheelie_ good time.” he stops the bike and unmounts it, holding it out to the child as they roll their eyes at the ridiculous pun. “if you really wanna learn, you just have to keep trying and not give up. it’s not that hard once you get the hang of it.”

Frisk is the master of not giving up. Of course—if that’s all it takes, then all of the trouble and falls could have been avoided.

Sans explains where the brakes are—something Frisk wished they knew before—and with a determined smile, the child tries again. Kicks off from the ground and pedals (just like Undyne said)—a little wobbly at first, nearly toppling over, but gritting their teeth and pushing forward. If they fall, they can always get up and try again. No matter how long it takes. Their balance evens out soon enough, and though it’s a little shaky, they’re riding the bike like a pro, or, well, someone who at least knows how to ride a bike without falling, anyway.

It feels pretty great—and just imagine MK’s face when they see how awesome they are!

But turning around is still a little out of their league.

Frisk brakes and wheels the bike around before riding down the sidewalk towards their friends, grinning the whole while.

“Whoa—I KNEW you could do it, man!” MK brightens up when they spot their friend and hops to their feet. “All thanks to Undyne and Papyrus, right? Their advice is the best!”

When they hear their names, the two pause their conversation long enough to look back—and see a small, brown-haired child riding past them, gobsmacked before they gather their bearings and run after the kid.

“WOWIE, LOOK AT THAT!”

“THIS KID’S A PRO!”

“H-hey, dude, think _you_ could teach me how to ride, too?”

\--

At the end of the day, everyone learns how to properly ride a bike.

All thanks to Sans and a little determination.


End file.
